Friday, October 16, 2009

London Film Fest Day 3 - HEADHUNTER

HEADHUNTER is a Danish corporate thriller yet to find UK or US distribution. I use "thriller" in its loosest possible sense because this is a movie as dull and unengaging as the slick cool corporate HQ it's set in. The protagonist is an industry-leading headhunter. Emotionally distant from his son and estranged wife, he forms an oddly warm relationship with a decrepit old corporate bigwig. The wealthy Mr Sieger wants our hero to recruit a successor, supplanting Sieger junior. Junior is naturally pissed off, and like the Prince Regent and George III, tries to get daddy dearest quietly sectioned before "neutralising" the other candidates. Even this plot description makes the movie sound more interesting than it actually is. Basically there's an hour of not much happening in beautifully designed surroundings followed by half an hour of sub-John Grisham investigative work. Secure doors are helpfully left open etc. Director Rumle Hammerich never creates a sense of peril or adequately skewers the venal corporation he's examining. This is no Stieg Larsson plot.